I guess the – you’re only as good as your last season – cure for the teams is kicking in again, isn’t it? I guess that Force India out-scoring Sauber the two previous years (’10 & ’11), and still in contention to beat them this season counts for nothing.

How good either team did in the constructors probably doesn’t mather for Hulkenberg. What he want’s is to be on the podium. Sauber has given their drivers a car fast enough to do that this year, so maybe they’ll be able to do that next year as well. And even if it would be at rare moments only, it will hopefully impress the bigger teams, which ultimaly must be the goal for Hulkenberg. Just look at what Perez did, and where he ended up.. Thinking of it, with some luck and the right timing, maybe a seat at Red Bull would be possible if either of their current drivers retire/switch teams.

I guess that Force India out-scoring Sauber the two previous years (’10 & ’11), and still in contention to beat them this season counts for nothing.

To be honest, I don’t think any of these things count that much in this particular decision. Eddie Jordan made a very reasonable point (@necrodethmortem mentioned it somewhere around here as well) about Nico wanting to go to a germanophone team. It might be just as simple as that.

Plus, Force India’s financial difficulties are now bigger than ever and might have an impact on the development of the 2013 car, a problem Sauber won’t necessarily run into with Carlos Slim’s capital still with the team. This probably made Nico’s decision even easier.

Someone suggested in the comments post-race that perhaps Paul Di Resta has looked particularly down/grumpy the past few weeks is because he knows that FI will get caught up in the financial maelstrom of Mallya’s assets and that Hulkenberg has managed to jump ship. Also PDR missed out on a potential move to a top team which will surely rub salt in the wounds…

It makes me laugh how the British Media are constantly making Di Resta look like a top line driver,how he is deserving of a drive in top teams,yet in reality no top teams want him,and there was a big kerfuffle about Di Resta moving teams and yet his team mate gets into arguably a better car.

Honestly, I don’t think there was half as much connecting di Resta to a front-running team as the media and fans made out. Martin Whitmarsh admitted that they looked at him to replace Hamilton, but they settled on Sergio Perez pretty quickly. Even then, most of the rumours linking di Resta to McLaren seemed to be fuelled by the assumption that McLaren wanted two British drivers because they currently have two British drivers, as if the team valued a driver’s nationality over his ability.

And even though Mercedes placed di Resta at Force India with the intention of one day promoting him to their works team, Lewis Hamilton was their first choice after they decided not to renew Schumacher’s contract.

For me, the most interesting thing now is what is going to happen at Force India. With the arrest warrant for Mallya, the team has a very uncertain future, so it is probably not going to be a very appealing seat.

TBH while I don’t dislike him as a person, the hype around di Resta is just annoying. Almost every race, it’s all about Paul and his performance. It isn’t as bad as the hype around Hamilton 4 years ago or so when James Allen and Martin Brundle were the commentary team, that was to such extreme ITV might as well have named their show USB Formula One Racing, starring Lewis Hamilton.

On top of that, I just don’t understand how someone could be so dull and uninteresting in interviews. I know di Resta wants to be respectful, which is understandable, but Paul for once crack a smile already!

Hulkenberg to Sauber is one I did not see coming, and really begs the question. For whom has Jaime Alguersuari signed then?!
He’s confirmed he has a 2013 F1 contract, but the seats are disappeared, and Sauber is kind of the only decent chance left. Personally I would love to see him alongside Nico.
Then again, I don’t feel Esteban is ready, nor do I particularly like him. He had a very scrappy year in GP2, and will be another Grosjean/Maldonado unless he really cleans up over the winter break.
Also, his surname is difficult to spell.

I don’t dislike him as a person, the hype around di Resta is just annoying. Almost every race, it’s all about Paul and his performance.

To save me having to type out a lengthy response again, this is what I said of hm yesterday:

Paul di Resta is very good at explaining away his and the team’s poor(er) performances in such a way that it is never his (or the team’s) fault. Sometimes he has a genuine point, like when he and Grosjean made contact on the first lap at Silverstone and di Resta wound up in the barriers at Aintree. But if you read any of his post-qualifying or post-race comments (though he mostly does it after qualifying), you will notice just how often he runs into traffic or develops a mechanical problem or the circuit conditions change and the tyres no longer work as well as they once did, and the way they always seem to happen at the most inopportune moment, usually just before he had a chance to set a competitive lap time. He’s always got an answer at the ready, and his misfortune is never his (or the team’s) fault. He’s too smooth, and he goes out of his way to avoid stepping on somebody’s toes, as if he wants everyone to like him, and for them to know that he’s much faster than he appears to be, just in case a drive with a front-running team comes up. To me, he lacks a bit of backbone, as if he’s worried that speaking up when something needs to be said will hurt his career prospects. Just imagine how he would have responded to McLaren’s pit problems at the start of the year – something needed to be said, but Paul di Resta would have been more worried about protecting his seat than fixing the problem. That’s the main reason why I don’t like him.

As for Hulkenburg in a Sauber, I wouldn’t like that. I consider Sauber to be my second team at the moment and Kamui and Sergio are two good drivers for them, that I enjoy seeing race. Hulkenburg’s a bit boring in my eyes, Gutierrez doesn’t seem ready and I would like to think they would want some continuity in the team tbh.

It’s funny how people were saying Kamui has sealed his seat after Japan as he got a podium, then because he crashes in Korea thats it he’s out the door